ALEXANDER SALKIND

Revised Screenplay    
17th January, 1983.

ALEXANDER SALKIND
 

presents

SUPERGIRL
 

by

David Odell
 

Producers:             Ilya Salkind                                    Director: Jeannot Szwarc

Timothy Burrill

Copyright 1983

CANTHARUS PRODUCTIONS N.V.

All Rights Reserved

EXT. SPACE  

THE CAMERA PULLS BACK. . .

INT. ARGO CITY

AND REVEALS THE inside of a domed city honeycombed with fantastic arches. The city is inhabited by young beautiful people in luxurious but simple costumes.

THE CAMERA ROAMS through the City, observing some people seated at a kind of cafe sipping drinks and relaxing; other people are in some kind of exercise class doing beautiful graceful movement; and finally a class of five year old children listen intently to a teacher who is demonstrating a molecular model.

                                                                                TEACHER
                                                And now, who can give me the electron

                                                wave functions for Kryptonian covalent

                                                bonding?

The five year olds eagerly raise their hands. The teacher points to one.

CHILD

                                                The cube root of the wavelength over the

natural log of the integral of the speed of

light squared.

The teacher smiles.

TEACHER

                                                Well, maybe that was a bit too easy...

THE CAMERA ROAMS ON through the city, following the sound of a strange, ethereally beautiful singing. The CAMERA discovers the source of the sound: an ARTIST sculpting a beautiful crystalline object with a MATTERWAND. The wand makes the singing noise as it creates matter out of energy. The Artist, whose name is ZALTAR, sometimes whistles along in counterpoint. .

A small girl is watching him with fascination. Her name is Kara, and she is seven.

Behind her, the dome, which encloses the City, marks the edge of the limbo outside.

KARA

What are you making:

ZALTAR

It's going to be a tree, I think.

KARA

What's a tree?

ZALTAR

It's something they have on Earth. You know,

 where your cousin went.

KARA

Where is Earth?

ZALTAR

Didn't you study six-dimensional geometry in

school?

KARA

Yes, I know the equations---I just can't see it in

my head.

Zaltar laughs.

                                                            ZALTAR

                                                Even I have trouble with that sometimes. Earth is in

outer space. And we're in inner space.

KARA

I don't understand.

ZALTAR
Wait till you're older. Here -- watch this.

Zaltar takes a small OMEGAHEDRON out of his pocket and holds it in his hand.

                                                            ZALTAR.

                                                This is one of the four Power Sources of the City.

I borrowed it from the Guardians. Look what I

can do with it.

Zaltar touches his MATTER.WAND to the OMEGAHEDRON and the wand instantly becomes charged with flickering light. He touches his wand to the tree sculpture---and the

sculpture comes alive with dancing lights and shadows. Kara claps her hands with delight

at the spectacle. Zaltar steps back and admires his handiwork. He carefully puts down the

OMEGAHEDRON at his feet, takes a small flask from his belt, and drinks.

                                                ZALTAR

                                    You see, a tree is a living thing.

                                                KARA

                                    Can you create life?

ZALTAR

                                                No, no, just the illusion of life. A kind of

half-life, maybe. A pale shadow of the real

thing. But it is lovely, the way the light plays

over the surface. . .

A woman's voice can be heard calling in the distance.

WOMAN'S VOICE

Kara. Kara.

Kara calls out in reply.

                                                            KARA

I'm here, mother.

Kara's mother ALURA appears through the lacey architecture of the city.

ALURA

                                                Kara, you shouldn't be so near the Edge

without a grown-up.

KARA

I'm sorry, Mother.

ZALTAR

I was keeping an eye on her.

Alura puts her arm around her daughter affectionately, showing she's not really angry. Together they watch Zaltar's latest sculpture, flickering with the play of inner light and shadow.

ALURA

                                                Thank you, Zaltar, but she has to obey the rules.

Zaltar takes another swig from his flask. and lowers his voice confidentially.

ZALTAR

                                                You and your husband have been kind to me,

Alura. I have something to tell you: I'm going

away. Soon.

ALURA

But where?

Zaltar bends down to Kara and hands her his matterwand.

ZALTAR

                                                Put your fingers there, Kara. ­And press hard.

She does, and the wand makes a horrible squawk. Kara laughs with delight.

ZALTAR

                                                Good. Now, go make something pretty.

Kara scampers away, hardly able to believe her good fortune, and starts to make all kinds of

surprising sounds with the wand on the plaza nearby. Zaltar speaks to Alura in a low, confidential voice.

ZALTAR

I've discovered a new way into the Phantom

Zone.

ALURA

But the phantom Zone is for criminals.

ZALTAR

It's big. And empty. I'm tired of limiting myself

to  Argo City. I want to do something new. I'm

starting to repeat myself here with this airy,

glittery stuff....

Zaltar waves a hand deprecatingly at the city around him.

ALURA

                                                But Zaltar---you founded the city! It's yours. We

were all just refugees from Krypton when you gathered

us together and brought us here, to the inner dimension.

You can't abandon us now. You have a responsibility to us!

In the background, Kara has been modeling a spiky insect-­like CREATURE. Now she suddenly finds the OMEGAHEDRON on the ground beside her. She doesn't stop to wonder how it got there from beside Zaltar's feet. She simply picks up the OMEGAHEDRON and touches it to the spiky creature. The creature suddenly flicks its wings and COMES TO LIFE, unnoticed by the adults. Kara drops the wand and laughs out loud with delight as the magical creature takes off from the ground and starts flying in circles around her head, glittering as if it were made of diamonds.

ZALTAR

I'm an artist, Alura. My work comes first. Other

people come second.

ALURA

How can you create beauty...with a selfish heart?

The spiky insect-creature flies closer and closer around the little girl's head, buzzing angrily. Her look of delight turns to fear. She tries to shoo the creature away. It flies off toward the thin membrane that encloses the city.

The spiky creature flies into the membrane and tears a ragged hole in it. With a giant WHOOSH all the air in the city starts to rush out the hole. Kara is swept along toward the hole by the wind. She cries out and stretches pleading hands toward her mother. THE OMEGAHEDRON is swept toward the hole as well. Kara grabs onto the ragged edge of the membrane.

ZALTAR

Kara---the Power Source!

Kara reaches for it, but it is too far from her, and the OMEGAHEDRON is sucked out into infinity by the wind. Zaltar picks up the matterwand from where Kara dropped it and touches her with the wand. She is instantly held fast. Zaltar pulls her back inside. He gives her to her mother Alura. Then Zaltar touches his wand to the membrane and seals the hole with masterful chords like a brass choir.

The wind dies down and all is silent, except for the quiet sobbing of Kara in her mother's arms. Zaltar kneels down beside her and strokes her golden hair  tenderly.

KARA

                                                I'm sorry… I didn't know.

                                                            ZALTAR

                                                It was my fault. You aren't old enough to use

the wand. I shouldn't have given it to you.

ALURA

But the Power Source, Zaltar.

ZALTAR

It couldn't be helped. The city will have to make do

with three.

ALURA

But what will happen?

ZALTAR

The Guardians will be angry. They may even

send me to the Phantom Zone. You see, I didn't

really have permission to borrow it. I must go

explain to them...

Zaltar hurries off nervously. THE CAMERA HOLDS ON KARA'S FACE as she senses this may be her last sight of Zaltar.

DISSOLVE TO:

EXT. A SPRINGTIME MEADOW - U.S.A. - DAY. UNDER TITLES

A beautiful blonde in jeans and a frilly blouse is walking across a field of wildflowers. Butterflies flitter and dart from flower to flower. The blonde's name is SELENA. She is our ideal image of the girl next door, who grew up into a dynamite lady.

Her current boyfriend follows along behind her, lugging a big wicker hamper from their pickup truck parked at the edge of the road. Selena finds a grassy spot under an old oak. and spreads out a red and white checked gingham cloth..

SELENA

Over here George. It's the perfect spot. Nice view.

George sets down the wicker basket and Selena starts to unpack a scrumptious picnic of home cooked food. She unpacks fried chicken, hard-boiled eggs, potato salad, cold beer and a big rich creamy-frosted devils food cake.

                                                            GEORGE

                                                You sure are a good cook, Selena. Man, that looks

too pretty to eat.

SELENA

Better eat it quick. It won't look too pretty when it's

all covered with ants.

She hands him a chicken drumstick and a hard-boiled egg.

                                                            GEORGE

                                                Selena, I've been thinking. It’s time I settled

down---and I don’t know a nicer lady to settle

down with than you.

SELENA

                                                Why George, are you proposing?

                                                            GEORGE

Marry me, Selena. The hardware store doesn't bring

in much now, but...

SELENA

                                                George---I thought you'd never ask.

A shrill whistling sound from above makes them look up. With a loud plop and a spatter of icing the OMEGAHEDRON falls into the middle of the chocolate cake.

GEORGE

                                                What the heck is that?

They look up in the boughs of the tree overhead, and then down at the chocolate cake splashed all over the checked cloth.

SELENA

A squirrel Frisbee?